Sure, there are pieces of it I resist: Google Desktop will not leave me the hell alone no matter how many times I click "cancel", and I never got into that creepy Buzz thing. But it's always open, always there, and I'm very far from the only one. Google is the information station for most of the world, and it has a heavy role in shaping our view of the world.

One small way in which it wields its influence is through Google Doodles, the alternate logos on the search homepage that celebrate anniversaries, holidays, and birthdays of famous and influential individuals. And when it celebrates those individuals, they are overwhelmingly male. Shelby Knox wrote on this at Feministe earlier this summer:

Because we’ve lived with the myth that men created the world and everything good in it for long enough. As long as men get to designate who and what in history is important, young women will continue to learn that all their sex has contributed throughout all of history is their wombs. If we can’t see ourselves as the inventors, artists, revolutionaries and creators that came before, how the hell are we supposed to fashion ourselves into the modern versions? Schools certainly aren’t doing a very good job in this department and since it processes over a billion searches a day, Google plays an increasingly important role in how and what young people learn.

As you probably heard, there was a pretty big anniversary on Wednesday: the 90th anniversary of the 19th amendment granting women in the US the right to vote. This victory was not for all women, as many writers noted - many if not most black women could not vote. But it was certainly a landmark event in women's rights.

How did Google commemorate this landmark event?

The Google homepage. At the bottom is a small checkmark reading: 90th Anniversary of the 19th Amendment

Impressive.

Now, perhaps this is not something that needs its own logo. I think it does, but that's just my value system.

But looking at the pattern of the anniversaries Google has commemorated, it's clear why they didn't consider it worthy of a logo.

I should note that many if not most of these anniversaries are not US-centered. But many are, and there's no reason not to celebrate a woman focused achievement with a US Doodle.

But still, while they're not all about the US, none are about celebrating an event or accomplishment identified with women. Nor are other stigmatized classes celebrated - these are also mostly focused on cis, heterosexual, upperclass, white accomplishments (I am not a history expert, so please correct me if I'm overreaching here).

There's no anniversary of the birth control pill, or of Stonewall, or of the Million Man March. Google focuses on celebrating events that are uncontroversial, that everyone can agree are important. And "everyone", as usual, means people of great privilege, and importance is measured by kyriarchal values.

Is this omission of a logo, by itself, a big deal? Not really. Is this, in and of itself, an indication of the HORRIBLE SEXISM OF GOOGLE OMG? No.

But taken in context of Google's history of highlighting male achievements, its larger kyriarchal point of view in choosing doodles, and its politics, its minimization of this very recent important landmark in women's rights is another indication of Google's disregard for women and other marginalized folks.

It's also important to note that the US-centrism of the event isn't a factor, since Google has a different homepage for each country. The doodles we (in the US) have seen are not (all) the same as the ones that've been up on the homepage in other countries. So it would have been entirely possible to put up the doodle on Google US without alienating the rest of the world.

Please note:

All writing here copyright Rachel McCarthy James, 2009-2011 (unless otherwise noted). The views expressed here are solely my own; my writing has nothing to do with any of my employers or associates, former or current.